Comment by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov to RIA Novosti news agency

Could you comment on the IAEA's reaction on the Kiev regime's attack against the Kursk NPP?

The Agency promptly responded to the attack against the Kursk NPP by the Kiev regime. It reproduced - in a condensed form - the main factual information on this matter from the message published by the Russian side in the relevant IAEA information system.

According to the Director General of the Agency Rafael Grossi the development of events indicates that the situation in the field of nuclear safety is potentially dangerous not only at the Zaporozhskaya NPP. He assured that the IAEA will do everything in its power to prevent a nuclear incident during a military conflict.

It is appropriate to recall that at the beginning of March 2022 Rafael Grossi formulated seven «basic pillars» for ensuring the safety of peaceful nuclear facilities in armed conflicts. The use by Ukraine of three drones with explosives against the Kursk NPP undoubtedly constituted a gross violation of at least the first and third of the mentioned principles, which deal with the inadmissibility of causing damage to the physical integrity of peaceful nuclear facilities, as well as the inadmissibility of exerting negative influence and pressure on NPP personnel.

Of course a significant drawback of the IAEA’s response is that it refrained from mentioning the role of the Ukrainian side in this dangerous incident. This is due to the fact that the Agency's mandate does not include the so-called attribution function, that is, the function of identifying the guilty party. That is why in the second half of 2022, when the Ukrainian army subjected the Zaporozhskaya NPP (ZNPP) to regular attacks, the IAEA avoided directly naming Kiev as the party responsible for these attacks. The situation changed on May 30 this year, when Rafael Grossi announced at a meeting of the UN Security Council «five principles» on ensuring nuclear safety at the Zaporozhskaya NPP. In the final paragraph of his speech, it was unequivocally stated that in the event of a violation of these principles, that is, first of all, in the event of an attack on the Zaporozhskaya NPP, the Agency employees located at the station will immediately report what happened to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, and the Director General will betray this information made public in the information space. Since at first the members of the UN Security Council, and then the members of the IAEA Board of Governors, reacted favorably and, in fact, supported these «five principles», we can say that since May 30 the Agency has been vested with an attributive function in relation to the Zaporozhskaya NPP. In the event of any attack on this facility Rafael Grossi will have to officially inform about this incident and name the guilty party.